Does simply saying you don’t want the prize mean that you didn’t win the contest, and that the contest holder isn’t obligated to award it to you?

This guy just won the James Randi Educational Foundation‘s million dollar challenge, by “using his gifts” to determine what is inside James Randi’s sealed box.

He correctly identified what was inside the box without having access to it. That’s all he had to do. He won.

Sure, the gift he used is “being a nerd” rather than some sort of psychic power, but that was never specified in the original challenge.

Sure, he was able to figure it out based on some sloppy reasoning on Randi’s part, but that doesn’t change the fact that the guy beat the challenge.

If the JREF doesn’t award him the prize, how is that going to look?

Sylvia Brown has been saying for years that she can win the challenge, but refuses to based on the fact that she doesn’t believe Randi will ever actually give the money to her when she does so.

Now that someone has legitimately passed such a challenge — and if the prize isn’t awarded — does that make her right?

She’s not a psychic, but it sure seems to me that she nailed that one.